In the News: Graceland Too has been rescued

Here is a very cool news story, one I didn’t expect. In Holly Springs, MS about an hour from Memphis, TN, the legendary home of Graceland One, was a very unique tourist attraction dubbed Graceland Too. This was the home of Paul MacLeod, who sadly passed away in 2014.

In a nutshell – among obsessive Elvis fans, MacLeod may have been the most obsessed. He turned his humble abode into a shrine to the King’s castle, Graceland. The house mirrored Graceland on the outside and was filled, hoarder style, with Elvis memorabilia on the inside. And it was one of America’s most amazing and bizarre tourist attraction. MacLeod gave tours 24/7, literally you could bang on his door at four in the morning and he would get up (fueled by power naps and coca cola) and give you a tour for a measly $5. Holly Springs, MS is not too far from Ole Miss University, so drunk/ stoned college kids would show up at all times and MacLeod was happy to oblige.

MacLeod singing for us to kick off the tour – September 2013

Wifey and I were lucky enough to take the tour in the fall of 2013. MacLeod walked around his house pointing out the insane amount of Presley related ephemera, all the while poking me really hard in the chest, telling Elvis stories, answering Elvis questions and telling us how much his collection was worth.

After he passed away of natural causes (only a few days after he shot a man in his house, a strange story in and of itself), his collection was auctioned off. Well at this point it would have been safe to assume that the Graceland Too experience was over. Paul was Graceland Too.

But, and this is really cool news, his house went up for auction and was purchased by the non-profit The Friends of Graceland Too, for $5,500. It seems they have plans to save MacLeod’s legacy and return the house to being an attraction. I really hope they are able to recapture some of the magic. It will be hard, because MacLeod was the main event; the Elvis paraphernalia and the house were just the arena in which he could do his stuff.